3Q08 FC Switch Market Sales Rose 7% Compared to 3Q97

According to a recently published report by Dell’Oro Group, third quarter 2008 Fibre Channel Storage Networking Market sales rose 7 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. Sales of host bus adapters declined for the sixth consecutive quarter while switch sales moved in the opposite direction, rising 12 percent versus the year-ago quarter.

"Fibre channel switch sales continued at a robust pace, and in particular users chose to spend on higher-priced, high-function, and high-speed switches. For the first time since 2002 overall prices rose," said Tam Dell’Oro, President and Founder of Dell’Oro Group. "Brocade is certainly in the sweet spot — we estimate its new 8 Gbps products generated about one-third of its sales during the third quarter. Its new design win with IBM for 8 Gbps adapters is significant as we estimate IBM to be the largest reseller of Fibre Channel adapters," added Dell’Oro.